A phone communications network (“phone network”) is established, operated and maintained by a “network operator” that provides a full duplex voice communication service between communication devices (hereinafter a “phone”), optionally in a geographically localized service area. The phones may be stand-alone devices, but may also be functionally connected with, or be comprised in, a computing device, such as by way of example a smartphone, a laptop, tablet, a desktop computer, or personal digital assistant (PDA). For convenience of presentation, unless specified otherwise, any combination of a phone functionally connected with a computing device may be referred to herein as a “smartphone”.
The phone network may operate through a circuit switched network (CSN), which connects to wider telephony networks through the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Alternatively, the phone network may operate through a packet-switched network (PSN), which may connect to the internet. Voice calls made through the PSN are referred to generically as voice-over-internet-protocol (“VoIP”) calls.
The phone network may be a cell-phone network, and the phone may be a cell-phone. Each cell-phone may connect through a base transceiver station (“BTS”) to a “core network”, which may include a CSN for handling voice calls, and a PSN for handling data and/or VoIP calls. For CSN-based communication beyond the core network, one or more BTSs of a network are further connected to wider telephony networks through the PSTN. For PSN-based communication beyond the core network, one or more BTSs of a network are further connected to the internet.
To use the services of a phone network with a phone, a phone's user enters into a contract directly or indirectly with the network operator that defines terms of a “service plan”, such that an operating phone is “subscribed to” the network operator with which the user has a contractual relationship.
Phone calls typically “originate” from a first phone which is a “calling party” that “initiates” the phone call, which “terminates” at a second phone, a “called party”, that receives the call.
There are various fees that are incurred in establishing a phone connection. One example of such a fee is a “termination fee”, which one network charges to other network operators for terminating calls on its network. As a result, phone calls between phones that are subscribed to different network operators tend to, but not necessarily, be more expensive than calls between phones subscribed to the same network operator, which typically do not incur a termination fee. For convenience of presentation, a call between phones subscribed to the same network operator, and thus has no termination fee incurred, may be referred to herein as an “in-network call”, and a call between phones subscribed to different network operators that incurs a termination fee may be referred to herein as an “out-of-network call”. A common example of an out-of-network call is an international call. Where multiple networks serve a single locality, even phone calls between users located in the same city or neighborhood may be an out-of-network call. Such a situation is common with cell phones, where multiple competing networks serve users in overlapping locations. Typically, VoIP providers offer free calls, also referred to herein as in-network calls, between callers subscribed to the same VoIP provider. However, a termination fee is typically incurred with calls, also referred to herein as out-of-network calls, that are initiated as VoIP calls and are terminated at a PSTN-based phone. In such out-of-network VoIP calls, voice data traverses a “VoIP gateway” that serves as an interface between the PSN where the call is initiated and the CSN where the call terminates. However, in certain cases, for example due to promotional discounts, an out-of-network call may cost less than an in-network call.
Depending on individual network operators, the competitive environment between the network operators, the presence of promotional discounts, and local laws, phone connection fees can substantially increase the cost of phone communication, and the price of a phone call can vary widely depending on how the phone connection is established.